DyCM Ashwath Narayan introduces locally produced med equipments for fighting COVID-19

Team Udayavani, Sep 9, 2020, 1:55 PM IST

Bengaluru: Deputy Chief Minister who is also the Minister for Science and Technology and IT/BT, Dr CN Ashwath Narayana on Wednesday, September 9 unveiled 22 medical equipments to be used in the treatment of COVID-19.

Under the aegis of the Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS) of the department, 6 products have been developed under the Bengaluru Bio-innovation Center (BBC) while 16 other products were developed under the supervision of KITS’ Karnataka Start-Up Cell.

The DyCM congratulated the innovators who developed these products and praised them for once again highlighting the scientific research and development capabilities of Bengaluru and Karnataka.

Additional Chief Secretary of the Department and BBC Chairman, Dr EV Raman Reddy said that the entrepreneurs who developed these products will be progressed to the next stage where they will be brought in contact with investors.

At the event, a memorandum of understanding was also signed between Mumbai’s IIT-SINE and the BBC. Professor Santosh Gharpure of IIT-SINE, speaking on the occasion, said the MoU would help the BBC’s innovations through financial resource mobilization and technical assistance.

The products were selected by Karnataka Innovation Cell through its COVID-19 Challenge. Applications were invited from researchers. 356 applications were received by the Cell in three phases. An independent jury composed of industry and organizations conducted a systematic evaluation. The 16 products were selected based on innovation, time limit of research, manufacturing capability, team strength, certification & support.

Dr Anita Gupta, Science and Technology Adviser and chief of the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), BBC Managing Director Dr Jitendra Kumar, State’s department of Electronics and IT/BT Director Meena Nagaraj CN attended and spoke at the event.